P102
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
F
irst tests done at Sepang;
second tests shortly and
what do we know?
Quite a lot, and also not so
much. These are still very early
days. Testing is very seldom a reli-
able indication of the 18 races to
come, over a lengthy season.
One thing is certain, however.
The glummest faces were at Honda,
as they continued to battle with fa-
miliar problems, while watching the
Yamaha and Ducati riders cruising
around smoothly and fast.
Honda was starting the year in
trouble again. And it was the same
sort of trouble that spoiled last
year for defending champion Marc
Marquez and the eternal bridesmaid
Dani Pedrosa, not to mention Cal
Crutchlow and company on second-
string versions of the RC213V. The
bike seems to have lost its way
since it powered Marquez to two
years of increasing dominance.
In other words, Honda has
overturned the assumption that the
more money a factory spends and
the more extensive its engineering
resources, the more successful it
will be. And not for the first time.
The switch to Michelin tires
provides no convenient excuse.
The others adapted well enough:
lap times were well in the ball
park. At the same time, the French
tire engineers have clearly de-
veloped the rubber more in line
with what a current MotoGP bike
HONDA'S HEADACHE
